Splicer



'June 9, 1936. c. N, I QEPLOGLE SPLICER Filed April l, 1955 NN.. .t

INVENTOR /Anw Patented June 9, 1936 UNITED STATES SPLICER Charles N. Replogle, Johnstown, Pa., assignor to Flood City Brass & Electric Company, Johnstown, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 1, 1935, .Serial No. 14,059

4 Claims.

My invention relates to splicers and, in particular, to splicers for wires, such as trolley wires.

Itis desirable that trolley wire splicers be adapted for suspension from an overhead support and while splicers known heretofore have been provided with such means, all of themwith which I am familiar have required a special type of support for the splicer, in addition to that usually employed for suspending the trolley wire itself. It is an object of my invention, therefore, to provide a trolley wire splicer having means whereby it may be suspended from a standard trolley wire suspension hanger of any convenient type, therefore making unnecessary any special hanger for the splicer.

Other novel features of my invention will become apparent as the description thereof proceeds and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims. of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawing illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof. In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation partly broken away;

Figure 2 is a plan view;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view; and

Figure 4 is a side elevation similar to Figure 1 showing the splicer with wires secured therein and suspended by a standard trolley wire hanger; line III-III of Figure 4 indicates the plane on which the sectional view of FigureV 3 is taken.

The splicer of my invention indicated generally at I preferably comprises a one-piece bronze casting having a bottom bar II, end sleeves I 2 and I3, and a top bar I4. 'I'he end sleeves I2 and I3 and the bottom bar, II are cored out to provide a passage I5 for wires inserted through the former. The passage may be dimensioned to receive any desired size of wire, but it is not neoessary that the size of the passage conform closely to that of the wire. Set screws I6 threaded into bosses I1 formed between the top bar I4 and the end sleeves I3 are tightened up against the ends of the wires after they have been inserted through the sleeves I2 and I3 to secure them in place.

As shown in Figure 3, the bottom bar II is of substantially U-shape in cross section and the passage I5 is larger than the wires adapted to be joined by the splicer. The space between the wires and the bottom bar or the end sleeves is preferably filled with solder, as indicated at Ia, by pouring it while molten into the groove in the upper face of the bottom bar II, whence it iiows into the end sleeves I2 and I3 and secures the ends of the wires firmly therein, and also pro- For a complete understanding (Cl. lill-44.1)

vides a good electrical contact between the wires and splicer.

'I'he ends of the sleeves I2 and I3 are provided with V-'shaped slots I8. By milling out the ends of the sleeves to form the slots, I prevent bump- 5 ing of the trolley against the ends of the splicer, since the trolley wheel rides easily from the wire onto the tapering sides of the end sleeves and does not strike a direct blow aganst the ends of the splicer. The slots cause the engagement of 10 the trolley with the end of the splicer to have the effect of a lglancing blow so that very little shock is imparted either to the trolley or the splicer.

The top bar I4, as shown in Figure 3, has the same size and shape as a standard trolley wire. 'l5 By making the top bar I4 of the same size and shape as a standard trolley wire, I am able to employ a standard trolley suspension hanger, such as that shown at I 9, for supporting the splicer from above. Since any standard type of trolley 20 wire suspension may be employed, it is unnecessary to go into the details of construction of any particular hanger. These hangers are a standard article and are available at relatively low cost. This feature of the invention is particularly ad- 25 vantageous in reducing the cost of overhead trolley installation and maintenance, since it avoids the necessity for providing a special type of hanger for the splicer, which has always been necessary heretofore, or the use of a pair of trol- 30 ley clamps, one on each side of the splicer and comparatively close thereto. The advantage of rigidly supporting the splicer, obviously, is that whatever force is exerted thereon by the trolley 1s then unable to cause bouncing or swinging of 35 the splicer.

The bosses I1 are liberally dimensioned so as to prevent the possibility of stripping the threads thereof in tightening of the set screws I6, which is a common faultwith previous splicers. The 40 top bar I4 is given a partial twist, as shown in Figure 2, to permit the ends of the wires to be joined to be pulled out and bent upwardly, as shown in Figure 4.

Although I have illustrated and described here- 45,

in but one preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be obvious that changes therein may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims. o If grooved or so called iigure eight trolley wire, for example, is employed, the top bar may be grooved similarly to accommodate the suspension clamps designed particularly to support grooved trolley wire, or a top bar such as that shown may 55 be used in cooperation With hanger clamps designed for round Wire.

I claim:

l. The combination with a trolley Wire splicer having end sleeves connected by a bottom bar, said sleeves and bar forming a passage for wires, means for securing the ends of said Wires to said splicer and a top bar also connecting the end sleeves,iof a trolley Wire clamp engaging said top bar.

2L The combination defined by claim 1 characterized by said sleeves being adapted to receive wires of at least the size of said top bar.

3. The combination with a trolley wire splicer comprising a bottom bar, end sleeves thereon, and a round top bar, integral with said bottom bar and sleeves, emerging gradually from the sleeves, extending substantially parallel to the bottom bar and connecting said end sleeves, of a standard trolley Wire clamp engaging said round top bar.

4. The device dened by claim 3 characterized by said bottom bar lbeing open upwardly between said sleeves to permit solder to be poured therein around the ends of Wires entering the- "sleeves,

CHARLES N. REPLOGLE. 

